Editorial: Long story short

Updated 10:46 am, Monday, February 18, 2013

It's all well and good for Mayor Michael Bloomberg to declare that instead of holding people arrested for petty marijuana possession in jail, New York City now will send them on their way with a ticket. But it doesn't let the state Legislature off the hook to once and for all end the nasty, lazy practice that underlies this issue.

The reason jailing people for a minor pot offense is such an issue in the city is because police there abuse state law. A person carrying less than 25 grams of marijuana would normally be guilty of nothing worse than a violation, like a parking ticket. But if the pot is "open to public view" — often, it turns out, because cops order pockets emptied — it's a misdemeanor crime, subject to arrest and prosecution.

That boosts arrest statistics, but it also clogs jails and courts and each year gives tens of thousands of people, many of them young minorities, permanent criminal records. How does that further justice?

This shouldn't be subject to the whims of mayors or prejudices of police officers. State lawmakers should fix the law so that it isn't vulnerable to such abuse, anywhere in the state.